The Week 18 numbers look like this…

  5 year comparison
  Week 18 137 GP YTD
  Avg +/- GP Avg +/- Avg +/- GP
 2006   11,399     7   15,564     14,549     120 
 2007   15,894   39.43%   6   15,966   2.58%   15,024   3.26%   117 
 2008   13,013   -18.13%   6   16,524   3.50%   17,272   14.97%   122 
 2009   16,634   27.83%   6   15,559   -5.84%   16,181   -6.32%   130 
 2010   15,713   -5.54%   8   16,615   6.78%   16,615   2.68%   137 
YTD – 137 Games
  Average Median %<10K %>20k
 2006    15,564     13,056    21.17%   18.25% 
 2007    15,966     14,351    10.22%   23.36% 
 2008    16,524     15,276    11.68%   25.55% 
 2009    15,559     14,516    14.60%   18.98% 
 2010    16,615     14,389    8.03%   21.90% 

Here are the attendance comparisons to 2009:

MLS Attendance – Equal # of Home Games
  2009 2010  
  Att Cap % Att Att +/- GP Cap % Cap
 Seattle  29,984   92.54%   36,159   20.59%   10   101.86%   35,500 
 Philadelphia NA NA  21,868  NA  6   87.47%   18,500 
 Toronto  20,198   91.90%   20,494   1.47%   9   93.25%   21,978 
 LA Galaxy  19,292   71.45%   20,319   5.32%   9   75.26%   27,000 
 Houston  15,538   69.06%   16,878   8.62%   10   75.01%   22,500 
 Real Salt Lake  16,137   78.12%   16,740   3.74%   10   86.56%   19,340 
 N.Y./N.J. Red Bulls  11,385   45.20%   16,277   42.97%   8   64.62%   25,189 
 D.C. United  15,193   67.53%   14,949   -1.61%   9   66.44%   22,500 
 Chicago  12,640   63.20%   14,778   16.91%   7   73.89%   20,000 
 ChivasUSA  15,312   56.71%   14,322   -6.47%   8   53.04%   27,000 
 Columbus Crew  13,114   65.57%   13,984   6.63%   10   69.92%   20,000 
 Colorado Rapids  12,431   68.73%   13,215   6.31%   8   73.07%   18,086 
 NE Revolution  13,088   58.17%   11,797   -9.87%   8   52.43%   22,500 
 FC Dallas  8,679   40.95%   11,231   29.41%   8   52.99%   21,193 
 KC Wizards  10,024   96.52%   10,048   0.24%   9   96.75%   10,385 
 San Jose  11,513   58.80%   9,620   -16.44%   8   93.40%   10,300 

My disclaimer about the capacity calculations

For my calculations, I’ve taken the 3 teams playing in Amercan football stadiums, DCU in RFK, Houston in Robertson and New England in Foxboro and assigned maximum capacities at 22,500. I took the 22,500 number from an approximate average of the soccer specific stadiums in use.

  • Philly’s first two home games were played at Lincoln Financial Field. The announced capacity for the Union was published as 38,000 and will be calculated as such.
  • San Jose’s 4th match in 2009 was at Oakland Alameda Coliseum and drew over 15,800.

    Observations

    The weekend began in Philadelphia who cracked 18,000 in the house. A terribly small showing for the Rapids, just under 10,600. 24,750 were in Houston for Thierry Henry’s debut. There were sellouts in Kansas City and San Jose while over 17,700 came to Rio Tinto in Salt Lake. Another mediocre crowd at the HDC for Chivas. Isn’t it time for them to move to San Diego? On Sunday, the Galaxy drew over 20,300.

    Rookie Watch: Teal Bunbury scored for the Wizards. A mistake by one rookie, Shaun Francis leads to a goal by another, Blair Gavin.

    Week 18 Games
     
    Philadelphia 1 Philadelphia Union Talk
    New England 1 Revolution Soccer
     
    Colorado 1 Undercurrent
    FC Dallas 1 3rd Degree – Buzz Carrick
     
    Houston 2 Soccer y Fútbol – Jose de Jesus Ortiz
    RBNY 2 Red Bulls Reader
     
    Kansas City 1 Kansas City – Hillcrest Road
    Toronto 0 TFC Connected
     
    Real Salt Lake 3 RSL – Behind the Shield
    DC United 0 DCU – Steve Goff – Soccer Insider
     
    San Jose 0 San Jose Center Line Soccer
    Seattle 1 Seattle Times
     
    Chivas USA 3 Chicago Fire Confidential
    Columbus 1 Columbus Dispatch – Crew XTra
     
    Los Angeles 2 LA – Official Blog
    Chicago 3 Chicago Fire Confidential
       GP  W  D  L  GF  GA  GFA  GAA  PPG  PTS  GD
     Los Angeles  19   12   4   3   31   13   1.63   0.68   2.11   40   18 
     Real Salt Lake  18   10   4   4   32   14   1.78   0.78   1.89   34   18 
     Columbus  18   10   4   4   26   16   1.44   0.89   1.89   34   10 
     Dallas  17   6   9   2   21   15   1.24   0.88   1.59   27   6 
     NY Red Bull  17   8   3   6   20   21   1.18   1.24   1.59   27   -1 
     Seattle  19   7   4   8   21   25   1.11   1.32   1.32   25   -4 
     Colorado  17   6   6   5   19   17   1.12   1.00   1.41   24   2 
     San Jose  16   6   5   5   20   19   1.25   1.19   1.44   23   1 
     Toronto FC  17   6   5   6   19   19   1.12   1.12   1.35   23   0 
     Chicago  15   5   5   5   21   21   1.40   1.40   1.33   20   0 
     Houston  18   5   5   8   23   27   1.28   1.50   1.11   20   -4 
     Kansas City  17   5   4   8   14   20   0.82   1.18   1.12   19   -6 
     Chivas USA  17   5   3   9   21   23   1.24   1.35   1.06   18   -2 
     Philadelphia  15   4   3   8   19   27   1.27   1.80   1.00   15   -8 
     New England  16   4   3   9   16   27   1.00   1.69   0.94   15   -11 
     DC United  18   3   3   12   12   31   0.67   1.72   0.67   12   -19 

    Streaking

    • RSL are unbeaten in their last 20 regular season home games.
    • Houston are winless in their last 8 games.
    • Dallas are unbeaten in their last 8 games.
    • Dallas are also unbeaten in their last 8 road games.
    • Toronto are unbeaten in their last 16 regular season home games(7 in ’09).

    MLS Throw Ins

    • There have been 35 draws compared to 47 in ’09 thru the first 137 matches.
    • There have been 83 clean sheets in the first 137 matches, counting scoreless draws as 2.
    • Through 137 games: goal scoring is down around 5.6% from 2009, 2.45 vs 2.59.
    • RSL has lost only twice in its last 39 home matches. They lost only once in ’08 and ’09, a feat matched by Houston.

    N.A. SuperLiga

    The participants in the 2010 N.A. SuperLiga and their respective finishes in the last completed season are …

    MLS FMF
     Houston  3   UNAM Pumas  4 
     Chicago  5   Monarchas Morelia  7 
     Chivas USA  6   Pachuca  8 
     New England  7   Puebla  13 
    N.A. SuperLiga
    Group A
      W D L Pts GD
     Houston  2   1   0   7   2 
     Puebla  2   0   1   6   2 
     Chivas USA  1   1   1   4   0 
     Pachuca  0   0   3   0   -5 
    Group B
      W D L Pts GD
     New England  3   0   0   9   3 
     Monarchas Morelia  1   1   1   4   3 
     Chicago  1   0   2   3   -4 
     UNAM Pumas  0   1   2   1   -2 
    SuperLiga after Group Phase
      Total Game Dates Average
    2007  195,816   12   16,318 
    2008  161,167   12   13,431 
    2009  86,948   10   8,695 
    2010  104,803   10   10,480 
           
    2 Doubleheaders in 2009 and 2010 meant
      2 fewer separate game dates

    The semifinals are set with New England playing Puebla on Aug 4 and Houston playing Morelia on Aug 5.

    Lamar Hunt US Open Cup

    In 4th round action, Columbus(MLS) defeated Charleston(USL-2), ChivasUSA(MLS) defeated Houston(MLS) and Seattle(MLS) defeated Los Angeles(MLS).

    The winner will compete in the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League.

    DC United(MLS) defeated Harrisburg(USL-2) in the last 4th round match. Harrisburg earned $10,000 for being the USL-2 club that advanced the furthest. Their outright win over RBNY was the tiebreaker over Charleston that required PK’s to down Chicago.

    In the semifinals, Columbus will play DC United on Sept 1, 7:30 p.m. ET @ RFK Stadium, Wash, DC and Seattle will play ChivasUSA on Sept 1, 10 p.m. ET @ Starfire Sports Complex, Tukwila, WA.

    The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup structure

    Summer of Soccer Attendances
    Opponents Venue Date Event Att
             
     Manchester City v Inter Milan  M & T Stadium, Baltimore, MD Sat, July 31  Friendly  36,569 
     Manchester Utd v MLS All Stars  Reliant Stadium, Houston, TX Wed, July 28  Friendly  70,728 
     Manchester City v Club America  Georgia Dome, Atlanta GA Wed, July 28  Friendly  33,721 
             
           total  141,018 
           average  47,006